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Friday, July 27, 2012

Have you ever noticed in Spielberg’s movies that
there is a strong emphasis on father – son relationship? or a close up shot of the protagonist in Stanley Kubrick’s
films? or a trunk shot in Tarantino's films. These are what called Director’s trademarks, which
a same aspect can be repeatedly seen in movies directed by a particular
director. I first noticed these things in Quentin Tarantino's movies in which a trunk shot appears without fail. Well. When you look close, you can note down more of these aspects. Let me post some more about these trademarks, mainly from three directors, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, and my most favorite Stanley Kubrick.

Quentin Tarantino:

This American filmmaker is very famous for his
powerful unconventional screenplay and distinctive style of filmmaking.

His movies are famous for trunk shots, which the scene is shot from inside the automobile trunk.

Mexican standoff (three or more characters pointing
gun to each other at same time)

Usage of aliases for major characters in almost all
of his movies. For instance, Black Mamba in Kill Bill, and The Jew Hunter in
Inglorious Basterds.

Fictional brands like Red Apple cigarettes, Big
Kahuna burgers

Featuring one or more scenes in a restaurant (Pulp
Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Basterds, Kill Bill)

Often provides explanations of what audience will
see in Chapter form, as in Inglourious Basterds and Pulp Fiction

His films
often will include one long, unbroken shot where a character is followed around
somewhere. (Black Mamba intruding O-Ren’s place in Kill Bill)

Often shows a female character with barefoot, or
main characters discussing things related to bare foot. (Uma Thurman intro
scenes in Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, Rosario Dawson in Deathproof)

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was one of the most talented and greatest directors
who worked for nearly 45 years in cine field. He is well known for great care
in whatever subjects he chose, slow method of working but technically achieving
perfection, the variety of genres he worked in. He maintained complete artistic
control making movies according to his own notions and time constraints. Below
are some of the recurring themes in his movies.

Nearly all of his
films contain a beginning voiceover, if not a narration at some point.

His films often tell about the dark side of human nature, characters often
featured as emotionally distant and mellow.

In his movie he shows the protagonist’s emotional meltdown by a close up shot
of the actor with his head slightly tilted down, but eyes looking the camera
directly. This is upto me the most fascinating aspect, the signature shot of
Kubrick, called the Kubrick Stare. For example, opening scene of Alex in A
Clockwork Orange, one of the characters going mad in Full Metal Jacket, Tom
Cruise’s paranoid thoughts inside taxi in Eyes Wide Shut. Even HAL-9000, the
supercomputer has the glare in 2001: A space odyssey.

All of Kubrick's films, especially Dr. Strangelove, have elements of satire and black
humor in them.

Almost all his movies feature a pivotal scene that takes place in a bathroom.

Almost all of his films involve a plan that goes horribly wrong. (Eyes Wide
Shut, The Killing, Paths of Glory)

Uses the first person viewpoint (the character's perspective) at least once in
each film, most notably the protagonist's suicide attempt in A Clockwork Orange.

One can see a tracking shot (the camera following a character) in almost every movie he directed.

Steven Spielberg:

Spielberg , one of the most popular and influential directors, is well known for his earlier sci-fi
movies, huge box office grossing, and variety of genre, has, like Kubrick, a
career span of more than 40 years. In fact, he is a long time friend and collaborator
of Kubrick. His sci-fi film A.I’s script was initially developed by Kubrick and
Spielberg from 70s till Kubrick’s death in 1999.

His movies depict father – son
relationship, mostly troubled and estranged. Either the protagonists come from
a family of divorced parent, absent or irresponsible father, or the protagonist
himself is shown as single father, either divorced or widowed. I have seen
around 7 or 8 movies directed by him, all of them have it. This is actually a reflection of Steven's childhood where his parent were divorced.

Usage of powerful flashlights in dark
scenes as in Jurassic park, The Lost world, ET, Catch me if you can.

Music score by John Williams.

Often shows children in some form of
danger, as in Minority Report, Tom Cruise’s son had been kidnapped. Also in Jurassic Park, Schindler's List.

Important images, or characters, are
often seen through the rear-view mirror of a car (Duel, E.T, Jurassic Park,
Schindler's List, A.I. Artificial Intelligence).

Looking for these kind of amusing aspects in my other favorite filmmakers too..

Thursday, July 19, 2012

What flashes through
our mind when we are asked to name a few science fiction films are the films
like Star Wars, Avatar, ect. Spaceships, laser guns, aliens and unimaginable
creatures, well constructed laboratories with all advanced technologies and equipments
fill the screen. Unlike the above, what we rarely have seen is the idea behind
these things. Primer is one such film. It is a science fiction story with a complex plot which
follows Abe and Aaron who work for a big corporation during daytime. They spend
their evenings in building and selling electronic spare parts to fund their pet
projects in a garage. When they attempt to build a machine, they accidentally invent a time
machine. It strongly implies that the idea behind most of the famous scientific
achievements used to be accidental and unexpected, like the discovery of time
travel in the film, in places as simple as a basement or a garage the main characters
use to work.

I must admit that Primer is a very brilliantly made movie. The
mastermind behind Primer is a debutant Shane Carruth, who has directed,
written, produced, composed, and edited the movie. Apart from that he also
acted in one of the main roles as Aaron. He deserves a pat on the back, and got it too, with awards at Sundance
and some other film fests. Rest of the cast is his friends and family mostly.
His experience as an engineer before taking up direction is visible all over
the movie. In addition he learned physics to make the dialogues sound
technically flawless. Initially while
watching, I had a thought of why these guys spend lot of money in making a
movie which is very hard to understand or even not at all. But a fascinating
aspect about the movie is that it was made out of a very low budget of just
7000 USD. Also the crew he employed comprised only half a dozen members.

It is one of the most confusing movies which simply leaves
one baffled,
not at the very end, even before one finishes watching it. A lot of
questions arise
like, what the hell has happened so far? Or what I have seen? Or what do
these
guys trying to tell? After second attempt, I was able to get it a little. May be one can master it after watching for few
more times. I prefer not to further emphasize about what the film mainly deals with, as it may blow out one's experience when watching the movie. Though
there is difficulty in following the film because of its complex plot and
narration, it still is one of the best made movies, and a must watch one for
movie enthusiasts and techie geeks. Lets get ready to time travel…!!!

Let me share with you some of the best made movies which I have come across in the recent years. When I say that I am going to list about the best movies, these are based only on what I consider the best. To make the listing shorter, only a dozen of such best movies are chosen. And of course there is no inclusion of regional movies (lets put a separate listing for them), and the listing isn't in any specific order.

Click the images to enlarge it.

1. Le
fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) – French

I
just fell in love in with this movie because of its splendid and gorgeous
cinematography in narrating an ordinary romance tale. Amélie is the story of an
innocent and naïve girl from Paris who has her own sense of justice. She helps the people around her and finds her solace along the way. It is a
kind of movie which creates its own sort of joyful and colorful universe. Audrey Tatou as Amélie is simply amazing.

Genre: Drama, Romance, Fantasy

2. The
English Patient (1996) – English

A
mysterious, critically burnt patient who is known to others only as English
patient is taken care of by a charming and isolated young war field nurse. Though he is reluctant to speak about his past, his
world of love, fate, deceit and loss is shown in the form of flashbacks. To
simply say about the movie, all the aspects of the movie are at the peak of
excellence, be it the dreamy and romantic music, or the high class photography,
or everlasting wonderful performances from Kristen Scott and Ralph Fiennes or the well handled script by director Anthony Minghella.
It’s one of the very few films I get emotionally drawn into it. Genre:
Romance, Drama, War

3. The
Godfather (1972) – English

I honestly say that this is one of the movies where you
cannot find any flaw in after watching it for multiple times. The movie
concentrates on the powerful New York based mafia Corleone Crime family headed
by Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), how their business runs and transformation of head of the syndicate
from his the ageing patriarch to his reluctant son Michael Corleone (Al Pacino).

Genre: Drama, gangster

4.Three
Colors: Red (1994) – French

This
is the third and final of the Three Colors trilogy by famous Polish director Krzysztof
Kieslowski. Red is about the story of a model who
discovers her neighbour is keen on invading others' privacy. It focuses about
the French revolutionary theme of fraternity, by showing characters whose lives
gradually become closely interconnected. One can feel a loneliness, and mild
melancholy prevailing in the film throughout, like the previous 2 movies in the
trilogy.

Genre:
mystery, romance, drama

5. The
Lives of Others (2007) – German

Set
in East Berlin in 1984, a secret police agent is assigned to conduct
surveillance on a famous author and his partner, an actress. Throughout the
operation in listening to their conversations, he gets more and more absorbed
by their lives. The screenplay is excellent with stunning performance by the
lead actor. One of the best thrillers from German cinema.

Genre:
Drama, thriller

6. Infernal
affairs (2002) – Hongkong

A
well stylish thriller movie with a gripping screenplay I have seen in recent
years. Two rats, one in police precinct and the other inside the crime regime Traids,
both working for the opposite, must find and expose the other in order to keep their own cover. The 2006 Hollywood gangster drama The Departed directed by Scorcese is a remake of this
Asian masterpiece.Genre:
Crime, Thriller

7. Eastern
promises (2007) – English

A Russian teenager dies at childbirth and leads a clue to a
British midwife (Naomi Watts) to interact with Russian Mafia Vory V Zakone.
Directed by one of classical, unsung maverick David Cronenberg, Eastern
Promises is more like a tale of morality, good and evil stuff rather than blood
and gore exploitation, a terrific, gritty, tight
and violent thriller set in dark London which will take your breath away. It
left me with memories of some unforgettable characters, as well as perplexing
thoughts about good and evil. Viggo Mortensen as enigmatic driver and
cleaner for the crime family gives one of his career best performances.

Genre: gangster, thriller

8. The
Deer Hunter (1978) – English

This is one of the very few post-war
films that show a sincere reverence for the lives of small town people. It is a movie about three Russian American friends working in steel
mill in a small American town, and their service in Vietnam War. It is an
in-depth portrayal of how War affects the people in small town. Already a
hardcore De Niro fan, I just started watching it for his presence only, but
ended up liking it more than anything. This along with The English Patient changed my perspective towards the slow going drama genre.

Genre:
War, Drama.

9. Fight Club(1999) – English

The
script was tight, the theme fascinating, the incredible acting from Edward
Norton and Brad Pitt, the direction inspired, and the cinematography stunning,
this is for sure one of the best and unique movies ever made. A discontented,
insomniac white collar professional and who-cares type soap maker forms a relationship
and starts Fight Club which ultimately leads to a violent revolution. I could
talk for hours about Fight Club if I am asked to. It is a kind of brilliant
film which both entertains and enlightens one.

Genre : Drama, thriller, satire

10. 2001:
A Space Odyssey (1968) – English

It
is undoubtedly one of the best science fiction films made till date. It is primarily
a technically advanced movie for its time, directed by Stanley Kubrick, one of the most talented
filmmakers. The film explores the elements of
human evolution and extraterrestrial life with spellbinding visuals and very
minimal dialogues. It took some time for me to realize that it indeed was produced before 4 decades with such artistic excellence.

Genre: Sci-fi, drama

11. The
Shawshank redemption (1994) - English

A
simple and smooth-spoken depiction of friendship hope, hardships and
redemption. A banker (Tim Robbins) is convicted for murdering his wife and is
put into Shawshank State prison. He spent almost next 20 years of his there and
befriends fellow prisoners and forms a strong bond with Red (Morgan Freeman).
There was no need of any freaky special effects for the movie and that’s what I call it simple. The
dialogues are catchy and narrated through the man of magical voice, Morgan
Freeman.

Genre: Drama

12. Mulholland
Drive (2001) – English

Followed
by a car accident, a young amnesiac woman (Laura Harring) get stumbles into the
apartment of an aspiring young actress (Naomi Watts). The two soon get close to
each other and set to find out what has happened. The film also follows few
parallel storylines which closely connects to the two women. Without any second
thought I’d say this is one of the best surreal and psychological thrillers
through which director David Lynch challenges the viewers in solving the puzzle
and lets one drawing into own conclusion.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Well.. other than watching movies, I am much interested in know the facts and information about a movie, its production, behind the screen, etc.. Here it is. Some of the such trivia of Hollywood movies, which I have come across.

In Stanley Kubrick's visually enchanting movie 2001 A Space Odyssey, aside from the film's music, no sound is
heard in the space sequences. This is because technically in space, there is no
sound.

One of the reasons why Francis Ford Coppola finally agreed
to direct the film The Godfather was to settle his debt to Warner Brothers production house.

The total footage shot for 2001 – A space odyssey was some
200 times the final length of the film.

The Pussy Wagon which Uma Thurman drives in
the movie Kill Bill is actually its director Quentin Tarantino's car.

Uma Thurman with Q.T's car

For the movie Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola shot nearly 200 hours of footage, but the final run time was 153 minutes.

While filming Eastern Promises, one day after shooting, Viggo Mortensen, lead actor of the film, went to a pub without washing off his tattoos or even changing
out of his costume. People in the pub became very frightened of him, assuming
he was a real member of Vory v Zakone, the crime organization which is portrayed in the movie.

Tattoos from Eastern Promises

The Dark Knight is the first Batman feature film that
doesn't have the word "Batman" in its title.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Spoiler Alert: This post is full of spoilers!! Do not read further if you have not seen the movie yet.

Eerie visuals and music,
violence, bizarre characterizations, multiple identities, dream imagery are
some common elements one can often find in the movies directed by David Lynch. He
is well known for movies which often mystify the audiences. This is the
fascinating aspect of the director who succeeds in presenting a fairly simple
plot in his own unique style of filmmaking.

One of the best works of Lynch is
Mulholland drive, a surrealistic, neo-noir psychological thriller about a
failed actress. The movie stars Naomi Watts, Laura Harring and Justin Thoreaux
in lead roles.

What is the plot about?

Diane Selwyn, after winning a
dance contest shifts to LA from Canada, aspiring to be a successful movie star
one day. Her aunt Ruth had died leaving
her a sum of $50000. Later, she befriends actress Camilla Rhodes on the set of
movie Sylvia North Story which she had a small role. There starts a steamy, sexual
affair between the two. Diane gets deeply attached to Camilla, but not the
latter, who wants to break her affair with Diane because of her newly found
affair with director Adam Kesher. So she invites Diane to the party hosted by Adam
where he announces his plan to marry Camilla. Enraged by this, Diane hires a
hitman to kill her lover.

Afterwards, in her apartment, Diane
before going to bed thinks of her past, and goes to deep sleep and starts
dreaming, which we see for the first two hours in the movie. Upon waking up,
she gets haunted by the images of Camilla, and there she hears the door
knocking down by someone, probably the police. Out of guilt, and unwilling to
get caught, she shoots herself to death.

Exploring Lynchian dream

What we see in the dream are just unfulfilled and
unaccomplished things Diane wanted to achieve. In her own dream she enters a
fantasy world to see things as how she wanted to be.

Though she hired an
assassin to kill Camilla, she wanted her not be murdered. So in the dream,
Camilla escapes from the gunmen in the limo. Camilla is in fact Rita in the dream.

The dream counterpart
Betty is seen as a happy, charming and well talented which is difficult for
Diane.

She always wanted to
be together with Camilla except that it didn’t happen. So in the dream, Betty
and Rita spend their time together most of the time.

Diane - Dream vs Real

The gunman hired to
eliminate Camilla is seen in her dream as inefficient so that Diane hopes at
least in her dream he does not carry out the job properly which she hired him
for.

When she is talking
to the assassin, she sees the waitress’ name to be Betty which becomes her name
in dream

The $50000 she pays
the assassin becomes the money in Rita’s purse.

Almost all good
acting roles were given to Camilla leaving Diane nothing, which makes her to
visualize that the roles given to her were because of some external force, say
the mobsters. In reality, there are no mobsters.

Right from the
beginning, Diane hates Kesher because she sees him as the reason for her
breakup. So she wanted to give Adam a tough day, some sort of punishment in the
form his wife’s affair with a pool boy.

Diane has never
performed well in her career. So she incorporates that irrespective of Betty’s
well performed audition, she is refused the role because of the conspiracies of
mobsters.

Diane tells the
assassin showing Camilla’s photo “This is the girl”, which becomes the words of
mobsters insisting Adam to tell in the dream.

Adam’s mother becomes
the old lady running Betty’s mansion. When Betty first meets her, she tells
“Call me Coco as everyone does”, just like she tells when Diane is introduced
at the party.

The cowboy who threatens
Adam and the mob in the dream were guests at the party hosted by Adam. The limo
which we see Rita is sitting inside is the same one in which Diane arrives to
the party.

A red lampshade and
an ashtray are shown placed at the table in the beginning, moments before Betty
arrives to LA in her dream. The same is shown again when Camilla calls Diane
for party.

The dead body that
two girls saw in the dream is Diane’s guilt which will lead her to death, like
seeing one’s own dead body in his/her apartment.

Red Lampshade, Telephone and Ashtray shown in dream

Red Lampshade shown in real when Diane answers Camilla's phone call

In this way, Diane incorporated
the events, persons and places into her fantasy.

Back to reality again…

How long one can dream? It has to
end, right? It ends as soon as the duo returns from Club Silencio.

Like the man on stage repeatedly
tells the audience that everything you see here is just an illusion, we are
also revealed that nothing is real though it appears to be. What we have seen
so far are just imaginations of Diane, the unsuccessful blonde.

The charming Betty disappeared
just like that. Now Diane is all alone to face reality. She wakes up when her
ex-roommate pays a visit to collect her remaining. When leaving she tells Diane
that there were two detectives came by, looking for her. The remaining events of the movie
are what mentioned already in the outline, shown as flashbacks. At last,
Diane’s pathetic life ends when she shoots herself to death, to escape from
haunting and horrifying past.

Most people feel that the movie
is a disturbing, haunting and messy that it is quite difficult to understand.
But paying close attention and if necessary, a re-watch with reading explanations
like this will make it clear. There are also many in-depth analyses available in
the internet, and also the director’s own clues are available in DVD
commentatory. I hope the above points are sufficient to untie Lynch’s knots.